Rest In Peace
by KartheyM
Summary: A mysterious Trouble with no apparent source. A buried secret that was never meant to see the light of day. Can Audrey and Nathan figure out what's going on before Haven is destroyed?
1. Chapter 1: Three Strikes

_*Note: I wrote this episode before all the stuff came out about the Colorado Kid in Season 3. In light of this, I made several assumptions that we know now are not true. Picture this as sort of an "alternate" storyline.-KM_

Dorothy Ritter set the pot of water on the stove and turned to get the salt. When she faced the pot again, it was already boiling.

Confused, the grey-haired, matronly woman bent down and checked the stove. She had not even turned the burner on, and even if she had, there was no way cold tap water could boil that fast.

As she stood, a pleased expression came over her face. Dorothy Ritter sighed in contentment and seized the pot with her bare hands. Slowly, she lifted the pot and poured the scalding water over her head in a short, brutally-hot waterfall.

Audrey Parker and Nathan Wuornos, partners on the Haven Police force, stepped into the Ritter house at six-thirty.

Joe Ritter sat, frozen in horror, in an easy-chair in his front room, like he didn't want to be in the kitchen at all. The phone he'd used to call them was still clutched in his hands. Audrey mused wryly that she didn't want to be there, either, especially when they saw the body on the floor.

The boiling water had seared Dorothy's skin and the rapid swelling and shrinking of her scalp had caused a lot of her already-thin hair to fall out. The medical examiner was pointing out the second-degree burns on her hands, signs that she had not even used hot-pads at all when she lifted the pot and—

"What?" Audrey mused aloud, "She just poured it over her head?"

"This week just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Nathan remarked sarcastically.

He looked up from the boiled woman just in time to see Audrey absently lay her hand on the recently-occupied burner. Nathan lunged.

"Audrey, no—"

She didn't flinch. "Nathan," she said, "It's stone cold."

"What?"

Audrey felt all four burners. They were all exactly the same. She shook her head. "The stove wasn't on when that water boiled."

"And it didn't stop when it hit the floor, either," Nathan added, peering closely at the linoleum. There were several smooth dips where the still-boiling liquid melted the plastic. "That's weird."

Audrey shook her head, "Not weird," she corrected. "If there's anything I've learned about Haven, it's that weird means a Trouble is behind it."

Nathan shook his head, "But what Trouble could do this?" he objected.

Audrey shook her head, "What Trouble could do any of it? Come on, let's go back to the station. We've seen all we can here."

They walked past Joe again to get to the front door. The silver-haired man stopped them.

"So was it suicide?" he asked. "That's what everybody is saying," tears sprang into his eyes, "but I just can't believe that of my Dorothy!"

Nathan and Audrey glanced at each other.

"We don't think it was suicide," Audrey began, and immediately Joe cut in.

"Then one of our neighbors is Troubled, ain't they? Oh, I knew it would be them! It's always their fault, and us normal folk have to suffer for it! Maybe the Rev was right, maybe they ought to have—"

"We'll look into it, Joe," Audrey interrupted the man, as much to cut off his angry torrent as to check her own rising anger. "And I promise you, whatever or whoever's causing this, we will find out how to stop it and bring them to justice."

Joe scowled bitterly, "Justice ain't gonna bring Dottie back."

Audrey sighed and laid a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"There's a lot of people who won't be coming back from this," she said softly, "But I can't do anything about them. All I can do is make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else, and this I will do with all I have."

Joe nodded, and Audrey and Nathan returned to the station.

Audrey sighed and sank into her desk chair as Nathan pinned a picture of Dottie Ritter next to the other two victims of the week: Joshua Dare, who had burned to death in a fire that seemed to start and end with his kitchen table, and Amelia Fitch, a typically soft-spoken gardening enthusiast who had suddenly gone berserk Monday afternoon, chopping up her beloved flowers and then stabbing herself in the stomach with long-bladed hedge-trimmers.

"What could be causing it?" she asked aloud. "I mean, what kind of Trouble could make people do such horrible things to themselves?"

Nathan shook his head, "There's no way we can figure this out tonight. Let's sleep on it, start fresh in the morning."

Audrey sighed, "Three people have died, and it's only Wednesday," she murmured. "Do you really think either of us will get any sleep tonight?"

Nathan was already on his way out the door. "Doesn't mean I'm not going to try," he said.

Audrey remained, unconvinced. She stared at the photos, and thought of Lucy—the real Lucy. If all she ever had were someone else's memories, what was her purpose? She could help Troubled people, that was certain, but what was the point of that? Outside of Haven she was nothing more than a carbon copy of another person; was this it then? The whole object of her existence was to come to Haven, then disappear somehow when the Troubles were over? And even with her "immunity", what could she do if they couldn't find the real killer? Surely these people did not kill themselves!

Audrey thought back to Lucy—the Lucy she had been, the one who most likely knew all the answers; what would she do in this situation? What could Audrey do now?

Audrey returned to the Grey Gull and headed straight up to her apartment. She slept, but she dreamed all night of the various ways she could possibly kill herself just with the things she had in the room. Strangely enough, every attempt was preceded by something melting or catching fire.

Audrey was in the middle of jumping out the window into the bay as her bed exploded into flames when a popping sound like gunfire or fireworks caused her to return to the present. She was on her bed, tangled in unsinged sheets, and the popping sound was Nathan rapping on the French doors.


	2. Chapter 2: The Cat Lady

"Parker, you in there?" Nathan called.

Audrey groaned as she rolled out of bed and threw on some clothes before opening the door.

"Come on," Nathan seemed anxious. He slipped a coffee into her hand and guided her down the steps to his old blue truck. "We've got a full day ahead of us."

Audrey rolled her eyes as he climbed behind the wheel. "I don't suppose you spent the entire night trying to commit suicide in your bedroom, did you?"

Nathan's face was full of concern as he glanced quickly at Audrey.

"Literally or figuratively?" he asked.

Audrey sighed and tapped her head. "Metaphysically—in my dreams, actually."

Nathan shook his head, "Gosh, I'm sorry, Audrey."

Audrey sighed, "Me too... So what was all that about a full day?"

Nathan turned up onto Harper's Row. "I woke up this morning to find about a dozen calls from LaVerne."

"What about?" Audrey asked as he seemed to be pulling down the sane streets they'd been on all week. "Did someone else commit suicide?"

"Nope," Nathan replied, pulling up in front of a blue house with white trim, "But everything else you could imagine might happen, did."

Audrey glanced at the small, single-story house. "Here? Doesn't that cat lady live here?"

Nathan shot her a subdued glare, "Mrs. Perkins owns eight cats, but so do a lot of people, Audrey," he told her defensively as he climbed out of the truck. "Calling her a cat lady makes her sound like a crazy old spinster."

Audrey glanced dubiously at the various cat-themed lawn ornaments around Mrs. Perkins' front yard. She muttered to herself just loud enough for Nathan to hear, "Really? By the looks of it she wants everyone to know she's the crazy cat lady."

Nathan shook his head and knocked at the door. For several moments the pair waited. No one came to the door. Nathan knocked again and turned to Audrey.

"Do you hear anything in there?" he asked.

Audrey strained, but shook her head. "Not a single, solitary meow," she replied.

Nathan slowly pulled his gun out of the holster and Audrey did the same, albeit in disbelief.

"Let's look around back," Nathan instructed, "carefully."

Audrey snorted, but followed him. "What's she gonna do, sic her Siamese on us?"

They crossed to the short chain-link fence surrounding Mrs. Perkins' yard. Nathan reached over to unlatch the gate, but to their surprise it swung open. Now Nathan advanced with his weapon at the ready. "Looks like someone may be here already," he observed to Audrey.

They advanced into the yard. Cat toys littered the lawn, and Audrey saw several sandboxes she did not doubt were intended for litter boxes—but there was just one thing missing. As a matter of fact, there were eight things missing from the scenery.

Nathan was peeking through the sliding glass doors to ascertain whether anyone was home, and Audrey wondered aloud, "Where are all the cats?"

"They're gone," a voice answered, "I've set them free."

Nathan and Audrey looked up to behold Mrs. Perkins, sitting on the roof in her nightgown. She waved to the two officers.

"Hello Officer Parker, Chief Wuornos," she chirped. "It was kind of you to visit me."

"We just came by to ask you a few questions about your neighbors," Nathan tried to explain, "Would you mind coming down?"

Audrey peered up at the woman. "How did she get up there in the first place?"

Mrs. Perkins stood with a grin. "Of course I'll come down," she gurgled.

Audrey was instantly suspicious; her behavior was completely unnatural, kind of like—

Audrey stopped mid-thought as she saw something fluttering behind Mrs. Perkins' back...something attached to her neck...and tied around the chimney.

"Nathan," Audrey snapped quickly as Mrs. Perkins walked unperturbed to the edge of her roof, "Nathan she's going to hang herself! She's got a—"

"I see it," he quickly shoved his gun back into it's holster, but just then, Mrs. Perkins stepped off the ledge into empty space.


	3. Chapter 3: The Burning

Nathan and Audrey lunged together as Mrs. Perkins sailed toward the ground with a jerk. Nathan was tall enough to get enough slack on the sheet to cut it from around the woman's neck. Together, he and Audrey carried the unconscious Mrs. Perkins into the house. Audrey went into the kitchen to get a glass of water for her. She returned with a terrified expression on her face.

"What is it?"

"I think I know what made Mrs. Perkins want to set her cats free," she said.

"What do you think it was?"

Audrey blinked as Mrs. Perkins began to stir. "The door to the room where she kept them burned away. It probably was on fire, and scared her, and then—"

"And then somehow I thought I had started it," the spinster herself finished, having recovered sufficiently, "and I felt so awful about being so irresponsible that I wanted to let all my kitties go." She put a hand to her neck, where she still wore a bed-sheet collar. She looked up in surprise, apparently just becoming aware of her present situation. She lost the dull, listless look and the sharp twinkle returned to her eye.

"Nathan, Audrey! What are you doing here? Why do I have a bed-sheet around my neck?" she sat up and looked around the room, "Where are my kitties?"

Audrey shook her head, "You just told us that you let them all go."

"Janice," Nathan added, "We came just when you decided to try to hang yourself. You got lucky."

Janice Perkins looked at him with horror written on her face. "Why on earth would I do that?"

"We're trying to find out," Nathan explained. "We came over because we wanted ask you about your next-door neighbor, Steve."

Mrs. Perkins tipped her head curiously, "Steve? That nice young man? Why, what's wrong?"

Audrey helped the older woman into a sitting position as Nathan took the armchair across from her.

"His Mom called LaVerne and said that she went in to his room to wake him for school and he wasn't there."

Mrs. Perkins sat forward in astonishment. "You mean he's gone? Impossible!"

Nathan shrugged, "I'm afraid so; do you have any idea where he might be?"

Mrs. Perkins shook her head, "No, sorry. Speaking of gone," she continued, "where do you think my cats have gone? I have no idea when I set them free, as you say."

Nathan stood and stretched. "I have no idea, Mrs. Perkins. I can have a detail looking for them if you want," he offered.

The grey-haired lady smiled, "Oh, that would be lovely!" she followed them to the door. "Thank you so much for saving my life."

"Keep an eye out for any more strange activity," Audrey cautioned.

Mrs. Perkins nodded, even as Nathan rolled his eyes at her. "I will; good luck, Audrey."

As soon as the older woman shut the door, Nathan spat, "What the heck was that? 'Keep an eye out for any suspicious activity'? Really, Audrey?"

"I'm just doing my job!"

"Well—"

"Wait, listen!" Audrey ordered. Apparently they weren't the only ones fighting; sounds of a heated argument reached them from the house next door.

"What's going on at the Garelsons' house?" Nathan asked. "Those two never fight."

"Maybe they have guests," Audrey posed as they drew closer to the clamor.

Nathan knocked on the door. "Mr. and Mrs. Garelson?" he hollered.

The shouting couple continued on, and neither host answered the door. Nathan pounded again, yelling, "Sam? Hayley? Are you in there?"

Still the argument continued; Audrey heard mention of something about "blood all over...sick and tired of you treating me like I don't exist...you never listen...you don't care...wish you were dead...kill you myself..." or had that last phrase been "kill myself"?

Just as suddenly as it had begun, the shouting stopped.

Audrey tried knocking again, "Sam Garelson? It's Officer Parker of Haven PD. Will you let us in?"

The voice that replied sounded strained and weak.

"Police? Not...locked. Can't move... Please... help us..."

Nathan and Audrey glanced at each other briefly before Nathan grabbed the handle. It was indeed unlocked, and the two partners stepped inside.

Sam and Hayley Garelson lay sprawled on the living room floor, their skin wrinkled and raw-red as if badly sunburned. Thin streams of blood poured out of their eyes, ears, noses and mouths.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Audrey immediately knelt down beside Sam while Nathan checked Hayley.

Sam's eyes watched Audrey carefully, the only evidence that he was still alive. Audrey was afraid to touch him, for fear it was contagious. It would probably cause him even more pain, anyway. Sam struggled to speak.

"Hayley...talking...me. Then we...shouting..." he gasped for breath like a man with sandburn in his lungs. "Air got hot...so dry..."

"Hayley's passed out," Audrey jumped as Nathan approached her from behind and laid a hand on her shoulder. He continued. "I could barely see her breathing, but she's still alive."

Audrey took Nathan's hand and he assisted her to her feet.

"I've never seen anything like this," Audrey shuddered and could not tear her eyes away from Sam's prostrate form.

"Well," Nathan sighed—a bit raspy, Audrey dimly mused—"we've seen things boil and melt and catch fire, but this is the first incident of burning people..." He sniffed noisily. "Maybe we've found the source of the Trouble."

Audrey shook her head, "But how could they—" She looked at Nathan and jerked away. "Nathan, your face!" she shrieked.

Nathan looked down to see blood running from his face onto his shirt. His knees buckled under him. "I didn't feel..."

"Nathan, for god's sake," Audrey fought the urge to assist her partner, "_did you touch her?"_


	4. Chapter 4: Stranger Things

Nathan couldn't answer. Though he could not feel, his body was reacting violently to some sort of influence. His skin flushed bright pink and beads of sweat soon soaked through his clothes.

When Audrey began to think she could see steam rising from his body, she lost her head completely.

"Nathan! Nathan, what's wrong?" she screamed, "What is it? What do I do? I don't know what's going on or how to stop it! _I can't do this! I can't save everybody_!"

A voice behind her rasped, "What?"

Audrey whirled around to find Hayley, no longer a shriveled mess, slowly trying to sit up and gather her bearings. Her skin was still flushed, but fuller and she was no longer bleeding. "Officer Parker?" she addressed the blonde standing in her living room. "What happened?"

Audrey turned hopefully to Nathan, rushing forward when she saw him rising to his feet and wiping the blood from his face.

"Oh Nathan," she gasped, "I nearly thought lost you!"

He waved her off. "I'm alright, I'm okay," he said a bit testily, "Go worry about them!" He pointed to the couple, who had crawled near each other and were laboring in vain at assisting each other up to the couch in their similar states of weakness. Audrey reluctantly left Nathan to assist them. She was careful to support the couple from Sam's side. As soon as they were seated, Nathan emerged from the kitchen with two tall glasses of ice water. The Garelsons accepted them gratefully.

Sam began, "I'll tell you what, if you had not shown up when you did, I don't doubt we would have died."

Hayley nodded earnestly. "We were just minding our own business when it started to get really hot in the house. At first we assumed that the thermostat was broken, but before we knew it, Sam and I were so stiff with pain that we fell on the floor and couldn't move."

Audrey instantly detected a large chunk of their story missing. "What about the fight?" she asked.

"Fight?" Sam looked genuinely puzzled, "What fight?"

"Who was fighting?" Hayley asked worriedly.

Audrey looked from one Garelson to the other, apalled.

"You two don't remember fighting or arguing?" Nathan asked.

"What would Hayley and I have to argue about?" Sam inquired.

Once again, Nathan and Audrey shared a glance.

Audrey decided to go for the punchline. She did not want to spend any more time in that house than necessary.

"Sam," she began, "have you heard about the goings-on lately?"

Sam smirked, "You mean the crazy stuff that's been happening all week? Yeah, I've heard talk; some people say a Troubled person is causing it."

Audrey blinked; she hadn't expected such a full explanation. "Oh," she fumbled with her thoughts, "so you know about the Troubles, then."

Sam shrugged casually and—Audrey fought the urge to flinch as she watched it—put an arm around Hayley. "I'm not saying we believe any of that stuff, but Haven's a small town, and it's a big superstition. There's no shortage of people who believe it, and those that do will talk when something like this starts to happen, whether they're in support of Troubled folk or against them."

Audrey knew Nathan was staring hard at her, but she blocked him from her periphery as she eyed Sam suspiciously.

"Which side are you on?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Nathan cut in before anyone had time to breathe, "Sam, do you know if there's a chance someone in this neighborhood might be Troubled?"

Audrey noticed he was being deliberately vague and avoiding alluding to their shared suspicion that the couple themselves might be affected. Why? What was the point in drawing out the conversation like this?

Sam must have sensed Nathan's underlying motive, and coupled with Audrey's barely-concealed latent hostility, the atmosphere made him defensive. He guessed their suspicion immediately.

"What, you think one of us might be Troubled?"

"Everyone else has had stuff burn or boil nearby before they would lash out irrationally," Audrey tried to explain, "but yours was the first instance that you yourselves were the things that, y'know," she fidgeted nervously, "heated up. In our experience, the Trouble of one person can affect people around them, whether by presence or by contact. Have either of you been in direct contact with your neighbors recently?"

"Well," Hayley spoke up, "I paid a visit to Liz Dare once recently, but that was last week, and we sat at her kitchen table. Um, I think—Sam, didn't you find some of Mrs. Perkins' cats loose in the yard on Sunday?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah, but she lost her head Saturday I think, and just started practically kicking the animals out of her house. I don't think it was Trouble-related—" he clasped Hayley's hand and glanced at Audrey, "At least, it wasn't _our_ fault."

Hayley noticed the glance Audrey and Nathan shared. "Is it?" she asked fearfully.

"We can't know for sure," Audrey admitted, "but—"

Nathan suddenly turned toward the front door. "What's that?"

In the silence that followed, all four could hear sounds of shouting coming from outside the house.

Nathan stood and looked out the front window.

"What in hell—"


	5. Chapter 5: The Fight

From every house in the neighborhood, people were running to the streets, yelling angrily about something. But they weren't just running to the street; they were running toward the Garelsons' house.

"Did you tell them about us?" Hayley cried frantically.

"No," Nathan cried, "We came to you first, I don't know what's gotten into them!"

Audrey frowned, "I do," she muttered.

Nathan glanced furtively at her.

"Trouble," she mouthed, nodding toward the couple.

Nathan jumped into action, "Okay, we need to get both of you out of here. You'll be safer at the station."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, even as the realization dawned on his wife.

"Oh, Sam!" she gasped, "Does this mean one of us is Troubled, since the whole neighborhood seems affected and we don't?"

Sam shook his head, "I can't tell," he said, but his face plainly said he did not want to know.

"We can figure this out later," Audrey sprang into action, "right now it might be safest if you two were out of this house and away from this neighborhood." The angry crowd had not yet blocked their path to Nathan's truck; they still had a chance if they ran hard enough. Wait a few minutes, though, and they wouldn't have a prayer of escaping the mob.

She glanced over her shoulder; the Garelsons stood directly behind her, with Nathan at the back to protect them.

"Ready?" everyone nodded. "Now, _RUN_!"

Audrey threw open the door and charged for the truck, Sam and Hayley staying right at her heels.

They got in and slammed the doors. Nathan turned on the ignition and then checked to see if anyone was behind him.

He tapped Audrey's shoulder.

"Look," he said.

Audrey did.

Every one of those people had suddenly reverted back to normal, probably as soon as they had gotten in the truck. Some of them looked around aimlessly like they had no idea what they were doing at the Garelsons' house, some of them acted like they were on their way somewhere else—and all of them got out of Nathan's way and waved with a smile (albeit a confused one).

"What in the name—" Sam gasped.

Audrey huffed. "Whatever, just drive," she told Nathan.

The quartet returned to the station and Audrey asked Stan to tend to the Garelsons as Nathan practically dragged her into his office. He slammed the door shut and whirled on her with fire in his blue eyes.

"Audrey, what the heck has gotten into you?"

Audrey feigned ignorance. "What do you mean?" she asked, twisting her fingers nervously. She could feel anger rising in her own gut.

"Warning Mrs. Perkins about suspicious activity like she was a third-grader, and then the whole freak-out deal at the Garelsons—"

Audrey bounded into Nathan's face before he could finish. "Freak-out?" she shrieked, "You three were almost melting right in front of my eyes, they were writhing in pain and you were bleeding and—"

"And what?" Nathan shot back, folding his arms.

Audrey tossed her hands in the air. "And I _didn't feel a thing_! I had no idea what was going on! And those people? I heard what they were yelling, Nate! They said 'Get her!' 'Find her!' and I wasn't going to stick around to find out if they meant me or Hayley!" Audrey gestured out the door toward where the couple sat. Nathan noticed that they were no longer holding each other. They sat at opposite ends of the table.

Audrey continued with a sigh, "I am sick of this! I am sick and tired of not knowing what is going on I have been clueless and left in the dark since the day I got here, and who knows how that came about!"

Nathan turned back to his partner, "Audrey—"

"Shut up!" she snapped, "You want to know something else? I am sick and tired of knowing that whoever I am, there's someone else out there with my name and my memories, or maybe I am the one with theirs, and every time I get close enough to finding the answer, something happens and I have a new identity and new memories and _I AM THROUGH_!"

Nathan sat silent through the whole tirade. "Are you done?" he asked when she didn't say more.

"Excuse me?"

Nathan moved and put his hands on Audrey's shoulders. "You need a break, Auds, you're overtired and—"

Audrey shook her head and pulled away, turning to the bulletin board marked with the victims. "No I'm fine, we need to figure out what's getting these people all—" She stopped and stared open-mouthed at the map. "Oh my gosh, that's it!"

"What is?" Nathan jumped up and glanced at the map before peering concernedly at Audrey. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Audrey waved her hand, peering closer at the highlighted areas. "I'm fine; check this out," she pointed to the circles around the first three homes. "There's Dottie, Josh, Amelia," her finger moved to the other group of houses, "then Steve, Mrs. Perkins, and the Garelsons." She traced a line connecting each house.

"It makes a perfect circle," she murmured, and marked an X in the middle. "And Whalers Field Park is the epicenter."

Nathan's skepticism returned as he looked at the drawing and failed to see her point. "Which means what?" he asked.

Audrey turned back to him, eyes alight, "Which means that it's not the Garelsons!" Audrey glanced toward the couple, sorry now for suspecting them. "Whoever or whatever's causing this is probably somewhere in that field," she concluded.

Nathan sighed and shook his head. "Audrey, nothing and no one's been in that field for years. If anything was there, it probably left years ago there's no way we can confirm any of this."

Audrey slowly grinned. "There is one way."

"How's that?"

She headed for the door, as if worried that Nathan would try to stop her if he knew where she was going. "I happened to know a couple guys in the journalism business who specialize in things that happened years ago," she hinted.

Nathan rolled her eyes and followed her out the door.


	6. Chapter 6: Buried Secrets

The Haven Herald Editorial Office was awash with papers. And Vince and Dave were arguing again.

"At least some things in this town manage to stay normal," Audrey murmured to Nathan as she rang the bell to get the brothers' attention.

"...and you always seem to—well, Officer Parker, Chief Wuornos!" Dave adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses and smiled. "What a pleasant surprise! Vince and I were just talking about paying you a visit at the station."

Both cops had a suspicion as to the reason, but Dave paused so suggestively that Nathan could not resist asking, "What for?"

"To get the inside scoop on the new wave of Troubles, of course!" Vince answered, his eyes wide. Audrey shivered and wondered if Vince knew how much he looked like a big creepy Bogeyman from the old 80's horror films. Both brothers were excessively eager to get information; she only hoped they would be just as eager to give information in return.

"That's a coincidence," she mused aloud, "because we have something that might be a clue, but we had some questions for you first."

"Excellent!" Audrey could see the prospect of a really big scoop dancing in his lenses. "What would you like to know? Vince and I have been reporting on almost everything since we came here."

Audrey smiled and decided to drive straight for home. "Who is hiding in Whaler's Field?" she asked.

Instantly, the Teague brothers became noticeably less willing. Vince looked as if he very much wanted to say something but knew he ought not to, and Dave stammered, "Er, hiding? I'm not sure..."

Audrey knew she was on to something. She persisted, "It looks deserted most of the time; there's a park, but people seem to be avoiding it. Why? Did something happen there?"

This question got a reaction out of Vince. He gasped and slapped his knee, "Oh something happened all right!"

Dave all but pounced on his brother. "Vince! Zip it!" he snapped. He tried to resume the role of gracious editor and smile at Audrey. "Um, what he meant to say is," he cleared his throat nervously, "something might have happened there, but we weren't around when it did, and we certainly never reported it." He attempted a nonchalant air, but Audrey wasn't buying it.

"Do you have any idea what it might have been?"

Dave frowned and chided her sternly, "Now, Miss Audrey, you know better than prying into matters other than the debacle at hand. You're meddling in something that has nothing to do with the present crisis."

Vince tried to atone for his previous flub. "Yeah, you best let buried secrets lie, I always say," he chuckled.

Audrey's quick ears caught what she wanted to hear. She leaned in excitedly, "Buried? Something's buried there?" she asked Vince.

"Now you've done it, Vince, you big oaf!" Dave tossed his hands in the air.

Audrey was already on her feet and headed for the door. Dave caught her hand.

"Trust me, Audrey; it's nothing of any importance, and meddling will only make your job harder and make circumstances worse than they already are; you'd be better off finding some other connection between the victims."

Audrey pulled out of Dave's grasp impatiently. "But it has to be that field!" she insisted, "The burning and the boiling, people going crazy and then dying..."

"Burning, and boiling, you say?" Vince burst out before he could stop himself "That reminds—"

"Audrey and Nathan don't have tine to hear that story now, Vince." Dave cut him off quickly. Now he was the one bustling them out the door. "I'm afraid we can't help you if that's the only lead you have. When you find something more substantial, feel free to come talk to us about it!"

Audrey turned and waved, amused at the way Dave and Vince stood in the doorway to make sure she left.

Audrey checked her watch. "It's just after one o'clock right now," she remarked. "Geez, is it just me or does it feel like we've been out all day already?"

"Are you hungry?" Nathan asked her.

Audrey was aware that all she had eaten was coffee and the doughnut he had given her that morning. "Yeah, maybe a little," she admitted, but the prospect of being able to solve the mystery and who knew how many others, all with just one investigation, was too tempting.

"Maybe we'll pick up something at the Grey Gull on our way back to Whaler's Field, and some of Duke's shovels."

Nathan pulled up short. Audrey glanced back at him. "What?"

"Shovels?" he echoed, "You're going to dig up Whaler's Field today? You heard what Dave said about that!"

Audrey huffed and folded her arms, "Yeah, and I know what Vince said. Nathan, it's our best lead yet, and sbout the only clue to a connection we have to go on." She shook her head. "We need to figure this out so we can solve it!"

Nathan shook his head, "I don't know, Audrey. Sounds more like a Cleaner's job than a cop. If you're so dead-set on digging up Whaler's Field, you're probably better off taking Dwight along."

Audrey grabbed her partner's hand. He still flinched when she touched and he didn't expect it. She lifted their clasped hands in front of his face.

"See this?" she asked, "Feel this? I trust you, Nathan, more than I trust Dwight. And maybe you should learn to trust me more, too. I'm the only one you feel."

Nathan looked down at the petite blond standing before him. She sounded so self-assured, he could hardly believe this was the same woman who had just been screaming about not knowing who she was, only a few hours ago.

He sighed, "Well, all right; but I seriously doubt we're going to find anything."

Audrey chuckled, "O ye of little faith," she quipped. "I'll get us the sandwiches to distract Duke while you get the shovels. If he has any idea what we're doing, he's going to want to come."


	7. Chapter 7: The Ditch

Sure enough, the minute Audrey walked in and ordered a lunch to-go, Duke pounced.

"Take me with you!"

"What? Duke," Audrey tried to sound as bored as possible, "It's just normal police work—"

"Normal police work, my ass! If this was a normal day, you'd eat lunch in!"

Audrey fidgeted. "What if I told you we were going to take it back to the station?"

Duke brightened, "We? Nathan is here too? Where is he? And, um, I hate to break it to you sweetheart, but don't you send one of the junior cops for a lunch run when you eat at the station?"

Audrey winced; that was true. She needed to make sure that Duke couldn't follow them.

"Please, Audrey," he begged between customers, "I'm so bored! I've done nothing but work at the Grey Gull all week long, meanwhile you and Nathan get to go around and deal with the crazy stuff!"

"Let me call Nathan," Audrey said, "as a matter of fact, he should be on his way here." She dialed him on her cell phone.

"Nathan."

"Are you coming?"

"Coming where? I have the shovels; are you already at the field?"

"Good, so you're on your way to the Grey Gull for lunch?"

Nathan paused. Audrey heard him chuckle. "Duke isn't going down without a fight, is he?"

"Great, I'll wait for you here." Audrey closed her phone and picked up the sandwiches. "I'll just take these over here," she said, moving toward a table around the back of the restaurant, where she knew Duke wouldn't be able to see them. It drove him nuts, she could tell, but he was forced to remain at the bar serving patrons.

Duke was in the middle of ringing up three separate checks when he saw Nathan walk in. He seemed to know exactly where Audrey would be, for he did not hesitate as he walked toward the deck.

Duke finished the tabs and turned to the window just in time to see Nathan and Audrey darting off around the backside of the building.

"What?" he gasped to himself. Those two were definitely hiding something. Duke emerged from behind the bar and exited onto the deck, following the path he'd seen the two cops take. Coming around the corner, he saw that the door to his tool-shed was slightly ajar. Duke carefully pushed it open; were they chasing down someone they'd seen snooping around there?

He blinked in surprise; two shovels were missing, and he had no idea where to look for Nathan and Audrey.

Duke scratched his head, "What?" he repeated.


	8. Chapter 8: Curiouser and Curiouser!

At Whaler's Field Park, Nathan's skepticism returned.

"So, what, Parker," he grumbled, "do you have a treasure map of some sort or are we going to just dig this whole park up?"

"Whatever happened here," Audrey responded, scanning the area, "you can bet that Lucy—er, I mean, I...me, forty years ago—had something to do with it. So look for any place that looks like it's been here for forty years."

Nathan glanced around at the antique, overgrown park. "Thanks for not narrowing it down at all," he murmured.

Audrey rolled her eyes, "I meant someplace that looks like a place you'd bury stuff," She pointed toward the thicket at the middle of the field, "like under that bush over there."

The shrub in question stood quite conspicuously away from the rest of the foliage. Audrey moved toward it cautiously.

Nathan stood by silently as Audrey stabbed at the bracken with her shovel. The spade rebounded with an unexpected clang! She looked up at her partner with the light of victory in her eye, but he turned away with an irritated sigh. Audrey reached down and pushed aside the branches.

What originally appeared to be a massive bush was actually only a layer of creeping ivy and ground-covering plants growing over a metal object on—or perhaps in—the ground. Pushing these away revealed a round steel hatch about three feet wide, with a small wheel in the center of it.

"Nathan," Audrey breathed, "This is it! We found it!" She clutched at the wheel, but found it impossible to move on her own. "Help me open it," she begged Nathan.

"What we found," Nathan retorted, reluctantly joining her, "Is probably a water treatment conduit or some long-forgotten bomb shelter." He grunted as the wheel began to shift ever so slightly. Finally, Nathan stopped pushing as it was loose enough for Audrey to open on her own. "Whatever that is," he panted, leaning over with his hands propped against his knees, "It probably means you'll be getting me into a lot of trouble."

Audrey couldn't resist a mischievous grin as she turned the wheel the rest of the way, and the seal under the hatch audibly cracked for the first time in almost fifty years.

Audrey clenched her eyes shut as she struggled to lift the heavy door. After a moment, the weight seemed to decrease dramatically, and Audrey looked on in surprise as Nathan again aided her with a renewed enthusiasm that almost surpassed her own. He opened the hatch the rest of the way.

"Wow," Audrey grinned appreciatively, "Thanks, Nathan."

"What? Oh, no problem," he rapped out quickly, almost breathless with exertion. "That's what partners do, right? They help each other."

Audrey blinked; what happened to her always getting him into trouble? "But I thought you—" she stopped; Nathan was still staring at her. "Never mind."

"So now what?" Nathan was already gazing down the hole with a curious glint in his eye, "Are we going down there now?"

Audrey was surprised; Nathan was not usually the type to rush into things. Something about the hatch had obviously piqued his interest. She shrugged it off as she peered into the blackness.

"I see a ladder," she informed Nathan. There were two purposes for a ladder, she knew: going down, and coming up. Did a dangerous creature lurk in the shadows, waiting for unsuspecting prey?

"You want I should go first?" Nathan teased her.

Audrey winced; he knew that she understood his aversion to being there, no need to throw it in her face again!

"No, I'll go," she replied quickly.

"If you need any help bringing something up," Nathan offered abruptly, "just holler."

Audrey paused in her descent and squinted up at him suspiciously, "Any ideas on what exactly it is I might be bringing up?"

Nathan only shrugged, "Nope."

Audrey shook her head and continued down the ladder.

She reached the bottom and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness made only slightly lighter by the daylight streaming through the hatch. Very slowly, Audrey peered as far into the shadows as she could see, turning slightly as she looked in a full circle. It appeared to be a bunker of some sort, all cement walls reinforced with steel girders. There was nothing of note at all in the little room Audrey landed in, save a tall steel cabinet at the back. Audrey crept forward and tapped the door. It sounded quite thick. There was another wheel at the side to open it, but Audrey knew she would not be doing this alone.

"Nathan?" she called.

"Yeah?" he hollered back.

"Could you come down? There's a door and I need your help to open it."

She saw his boots appear at the top of the hatch. "I'll be right down," he said.

Audrey waited by the door. "The wheel is here," she told him, moving aside.

Nathan put his hand to the wheel, but he had not started turning it before Audrey suddenly snapped, "Wait, did you hear that?"

Nathan paused, and in the absolute silence, turned to Audrey.

"Hear what?"

"That voice!"

"What voice?"

A queer expression came over Audrey's face as she gazed uncertainly around the small, dark room.

"I thought I heard someone say go away," she murmured.

Nathan stared askance at her. "Are you saying you're changing your mind about this? Because the hatch is open. We can't go back."

Now it was Audrey's turn to look puzzled. "Back to what? No, we're going through with this, Nathan. I'm not letting you make me second-guess myself!" She turned back to the door.

Nathan clapped a hand on her shoulder and pulled her about three paces back.

"Wait, Audrey," he said over her protests, "I just heard the voice too. It said we should not be here. We should—"

He broke off, but Audrey had heard all she needed to hear. She pushed Nathan's hand away.

"Good, I'm glad I'm not crazy, at any rate!" she snapped. As she returned to the door the voice again tried to warn her, "Don't come any closer!" but Audrey was past listening.

"We're coming in there," she muttered, "ready or not!"

Nathan was by her side, helping turn the stubborn crank. "That's the spirit!" he grunted encouragingly.

Together, they finally turned back the bolt and heaved the heavy door open.

Darkness greeted them.

"Hello?" Nathan called.

"What are you doing?" Audrey snapped fearfully. She had a thing about being heard and detected by people who thrived in darkness.

"Well, obviously someone cared enough to warn us about opening the door," he reasoned.

"Yes, but that someone could have been warning us away because it's a victim of something else!"

A flame flickered on near the back of the room. Audrey and Nathan could barely make out at least the shape of what might be—

"Is that a hospital gurney?" Audrey wondered aloud, stepping into the room. She saw the flame contained in a gas lamp, but who had lit it?

"Come in, if you must," a voice whispered clearly. There was no doubt that it had been the same voice to warn them away. Audrey heard it issuing from the dark room, but Nathan, on the other side of the doorway, looked around him as if he had heard the voice coming from the room around him.

Audrey took another cautious step forward. "Who are you?" she queried into the void.

"In the middle of the room," the same hoarse whisper continued, "There is the pull-cord for the light on the ceiling."

Audrey shuffled gradually closer until she felt the cord strike against her forehead. Nathan remained apprehensively in the doorway as Audrey tugged on the cord.

She blinked; it wasn't bright light, but it seemed only that everything in the room became visible: the small table with the oil lamp, the "tree" stand of nearly-empty IV bags, and the long thin tube that led from these directly to a figure wrapped in a full-body straitjacket who lay perfectly still, with a mask over her eyes, a skull-cap on her head, and wax plugs in her ears.

"I did warn you," the woman whispered, obviously trying to keep her entire body as still as possible. "Now you'll have to face the consequences."

Audrey was still trying to process the fact that now she knew she was talking to someone in a straitjacket with her eyes and ears covered.

"Consequences?" she repeated dimly, "What consequences?"

"Well, curiosity did kill the cat, now, didn't it?"


	9. Chapter 9: Discovering Chaos

"Who are you?" Audrey asked.

"They called me Chaos when they buried me, but you may call me Peace."

Audrey felt her legs getting stiff from standing, and Peace must have sensed it.

"I believe there is at least one chair in the room," she offered.

Audrey looked around until her eye fell on a heap of ash in the corner.

"Yeah, um," she remarked, "It looks like it burnt up." The thought occurred to her as she spoke the words. "Hey," she took a seat on the floor, "Are you the one who's been making things burn up around this area?"

"I'm afraid so," the woman admitted. "You have heard of the Troubles, correct?" She continued before Audrey could respond, "Of course you have; anyway I was born in Boston, deaf and blind. Right about the time my parents discovered a doctor in Haven who claimed to be able to cure me, the Troubles started. I got my sight and hearing back, yes, but I was also afflicted with dynamogenesis at any sound or any sight or any movement."

"What's dynamogenesis?" Audrey asked, amazed that someone deaf and blind could detect her presence and understand her so completely.

Peace turned her head slightly—a tiny movement—and Audrey felt a blast of heat radiate from her body at the same time she heard Nathan cry out. Audrey whirled back toward the door and saw that it had totally melted right on it's hinges.

"That is dynamogenesis; liquid boils, wood and plants burn, metal heats and melts, and gas ignites. Under normal Trouble conditions, it would only happen when I got agitated, but for me, it was any little sound I heard, any pinprick of light I saw, any voluntary movement of my body—obviously not a cure at all, so they gave up on me, pronounced me twice-damned and incurable, and buried me down here with enough intravenous nourishment to last me fifty years—till the next wave of Troubles came."

Audrey's head spun; was this what Lucy knew before she was erased? Could this woman be the key to curing the Troubles once and for all?

"How did you know the Troubles were back again?" she asked.

"Why else would anyone even think if digging me up? Certainly no one wanted to be around me!"

"Why not?" Nathan asked, coming into the room.

Audrey noticed that he had blood dripping out of his nose again. "Because the human body has a lot of liquids in it," she pointed the trickle out to Nathan, "like blood."

"Yes," Peace agreed, "and bile, and humors, and sweat." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I was only five years old; the first sounds I ever heard were cries of agony, and my first sight was that of every nurse and doctor in the operating room shriveling and dying before my eyes because every ounce of liquid in their flesh superheated and evaporated."

Briefly, Audrey wondered if she should really be that close to such a dangerous patient. She continuously glanced over her shoulder to see if Nathan would collapse again.

Peace continued, "Of course, they had to seal my ears and cover my eyes again, but they found out that any voluntary movement of my body, or even the movement of cloth against my skin also had a dangerous effect, hence the straitjacket. As long as I keep perfectly still, I am relatively harmless."

"So I guess we know what almost killed the Garelsons," Audrey mused.

Peace seemed almost horrified. "I killed someone? Surely my effects can't be that strong from a distance!"

"Peace, three people are dead: one lady poured boiling water over her head, one killed herself and a third was roasted alive at his kitchen table. There was a couple who we thought might be behind it all, because their symptoms matched the irrational behavior of all the other victims, but I guess we were looking at the wrong common thread."

"Irrational?" Peace asked. "Hmm; can you tell me whether the heat occurred before or after the irrationality?"

Audrey shrugged before she remembered to whom she spoke, so she said aloud, "I don't know for sure on all of them, but the ones with witnesses seem to fit a pattern of the flame up happening just before the irrationality comes."

Peace was silent for a long time.

"He's here," she whispered at last.

"Who?" Audrey asked.

"The Enemy."

"What enemy?"

"Nobody knows his name, but his Trouble is unmistakable. He can get into your head and make you do whatever he wants, and he can walk by and even talk to you and then make you forget you ever saw him."

"Well, why hasn't anything like this happened before?"

"Oh, but it has; he is the reason I had to be buried in a bunker like this. He's probably been living here, making everyone he meets forget about him, behave irrationally, and kill themselves, since they buried me; he's waiting for me because he wants my Trouble."

Audrey shivered, "Wait, so he has a Trouble, but he can also take on the Troubles of his victims?"

"Only one at a time, but yes. When he is the cause of a Troubled person's death, he can assume their Trouble. The difference is that he is fully aware of his ability, and fully in control of it. He cannot help assuming the Trouble when a Troubled person is killed, but every time a new kill is made, he must give up the previously acquired Trouble."

"So how come things never melted and burned before now, if you've been buried here the whole time?"

Peace considered the question before answering. "Maybe because before, when I was awake, times were not Troubled, but I have just awakened now during this time, which tends to activate my Trouble, as much as I try to stop it."

"So the melting, boiling, and burning were not done by you on purpose, but then the irrational behavior was this Enemy, coming in behind you and maybe..." she thought over possible motivations, "Maybe he was searching their minds to find out where you were and if they had seen you."

"I'm so sorry those people had to die," Peace responded. "But Lucy, that's not the worst of it."

"I'm not—" Audrey started to protest, but Peace didn't let her as she continued, "Just think what he could be capable of if he could control a power like mine: he could kill anyone he wanted, he'd be impervious to heat and cold, he could melt bullets in midair and diffuse electricity... He'd be unstoppable."

Audrey fidgeted and stood to her feet. Nathan motioned her over.

"We need to get her out of here," he said.

"Why?" Audrey asked, "You heard what she said; the Enemy has not found her yet, and if we're lucky, we can just close everything up and—" she faltered as she remembered that Peace had already melted the door of her room.

Nathan resumed, "We are her protectors now, till either the Troubles go away, or the Enemy can be stopped; leaving her in here would be like leaving a canned mouse for a cat."

"Lucy can keep me safe, Nathan," Peace spoke up.

Audrey turned back to her, feeling the same old lurch in her gut as every time she thought about her alternate identity—if she really could call it hers.

"Lucy isn't here, Peace," she said through clenched teeth.

"Aren't you Lucy?" Peace persisted.

"No," Audrey stated. "I'm not. My name is Audrey Parker."

"But you are Lucy," Peace insisted. "Or perhaps you knew her?"

Audrey was growing more frustrated. "No I'm—"

"Hey," Nathan interrupted, "Check this out."

Audrey welcomed the opportunity to shift her focus off Peace and her strange fixation with Lucy Ripley. She looked toward the ceiling, where Nathan pointed.

The ceiling had hinges in the corners, and latches down the middle. It was not a solid piece, but split so that it could open easy.

"We could just lift her through the roof," Audrey murmured.

"Careful, though," Peace warned, "The more people who know about me, the easier it will be for the Enemy to find me in their minds and memories."

Audrey looked around the room. There was a dresser, a small table, and a large steamer trunk in addition to the gurney. She grinned at Nathan.

"I have an idea," she said, "and I know just the person to help us."


	10. Chapter 10: It Happened At Night

That evening, Nathan and Audrey returned with a winch to hoist Peace through the hole.

"Are you sure you two aren't going crazy or anything like that?" Duke Crocker hollered as he and the two cops dug down to—whatever it was; Duke could not make it out in the dark.

"We're sure," Audrey told him, "Just keep digging."

Clang!

"Hey!" Duke cried, "I've struck something!"

"We know, brainless," Nathan shot back, "we need to dig to clear it off. Keep digging."

Duke shook his head, shoveling another clod out of the hole. "I still can't figure out what is so special that it had to wait till closing time, but you also could not hold off till tomorrow morning."

"Trust me," Audrey said, "It's better this way."

They dug till Audrey said, "All right."

Duke squinted in the moonlight to try and see what it was they had uncovered. It looked to be a steel plate of some kind, seven feet square. He looked up when the radio on Audrey's hip squawked.

"Ready," said Nathan's voice.

Duke dropped the shovel and looked around as Audrey moved back to the winch and fired it up, but he could not see Nathan anywhere.

"Where'd Captain Amazing run off to?" he demanded.

Audrey smiled a private smile and dropped a large harness on top of him. "You might want to get out of the hole now, Duke," she warned.

"Why's that?"

As if in answer, the plate shifted under his feet. He reached up, and Audrey helped him out of the hole. "Geez, what the heck—"

He saw Audrey lower the harness down between the plate that was actually two plates hinged on the outer edges, and, at a signal from Nathan over the radio, she raised the winch and brought up Nathan and an object that looked very much like an antique chest.

He pointed and gaped. "Audrey, what is that?"

She still wasn't giving him answers. She helped Nathan load the trunk on the back of his truck before hopping in, herself.

"Hey listen, Duke," Nathan clapped him on the shoulder like they were best pals. "We really want to keep this thing as hushed up as possible—"

"What thing? What are you guys up to?"

"—so I'd really appreciate if you'd help filling in the hole. I'll send Dwight over to make sure this whole area looks undisturbed. Would you mind?"

"Dwight? Ha! I know what this is! It's a Trouble, isn't it? That chest has something to do with a Trouble, that's why you had to dig it up, though why you had to do it in the middle of the night is beyond me..."

"Thanks," Nathan completely ignored everything Duke said. "I appreciate it." He hopped in his truck and drove away.

Duke was left with three shovels and a hole seven feet square and just under six feet deep.

"I'm gonna find out what that is!" he yelled at the road behind Nathan's truck. "You can't keep secrets from me!" He sighed and began shoveling the dirt back in.


	11. Chapter 11: A New Problem

Audrey and Nathan did not see each other again till the following morning.

"Any Trouble?" Audrey asked, coming in and sitting down at her desk.

Nathan, who had done most of the work getting the steamer trunk containing Peace and her IV tree into the rarely-used attic of the police station, shook his head.

"She's fine," he replied.

"Who's fine?" Duke popped his head in the door. "Are you wondering if I'm fine? Because, as much as I appreciate your concern, the truth is that spending most of my night digging a huge hole and filling it in again really takes it out of me."

"File a grievance if you think you can explain what you were doing out there, not to mention find the location again," Nathan shot back.

Audrey glanced from one to the other. "I'll leave you two to chat while I go check on...something," she shot Nathan a significant glance.

She was out the door before Duke could ask any more questions. He heaved an exasperated sigh and left the office.

Audrey opened the door of the attic. Nathan had laid Peace on a cot so she would be comfortable.

"Come in, Lucy—I mean...Angie," she whispered when Audrey entered.

It was irksome enough that she'd just called her Lucy again; more so that she couldn't even get her real name right.

"It's Audrey," she corrected tersely. "How are you feeling?"

Peace sighed, "I'm sorry; I'm not used to remembering names I guess. I feel... exposed."

Audrey brought up a three-legged footstool and sat upon it. "Exposed? Here? How?"

"Audrey, the Enemy works in the mind. He doesn't have to see me to know where I am. He just has to get inside the head of someone who has."

Audrey stiffened, "Nathan and I," she guessed.

"Nathan, yes; the Enemy can make him forget he ever existed. But you are not so susceptible; since this is a Trouble issue, you will be the only one able to remember him."

Audrey gritted her teeth; she never liked preferential treatment, now a supernatural phenomenon was singling her out time and again! Here was someone who could kill and disappear—she imagined herself forced to watch, and forced to carry that memory as no one in the world could ever remember the criminal.

"I should stay here, then," she announced, "in case he comes here looking for you."

"You know you cannot do that, Audrey," Peace responded. "Haven needs you. As long as Nathan and you are the only ones who know about me, it will be hard for the Enemy to find me. The more people find out, the easier it will be for him to sift through them to find exactly where I am."

"Why does it always have to be me?" Audrey burst out petulantly.

"Why," Peace was slightly taken aback, "because you're Lucy, that's why!"

"I've told you before," Audrey sighed, "Lucy is dead; I'm Audrey now."

Peace smiled, "Oh no," she mused, "you'll always be Lucy to me."

Audrey wondered about that, but she dismissed it. "All right, so Nathan and I are the only ones who know about you."

"And you're the only one the Enemy can't get to," Peace added, "Audrey, I'd be careful of Nathan; as someone you trust he will be very susceptible to the Enemy's prying."

Audrey frowned. "I think he may already be compromised." She recalled his odd change of attitude when they were digging in the hatch and mentioned it to Peace.

"Yes, it certainly does sound like the Enemy's influence. You should be very careful around him from here on out."

"I will," Audrey promised. She made a small hesitant noise.

"Yes?" Peace prompted her, "What is it?"

"I was thinking about what you said last night," said Audrey, "about the Enemy's ability to make people forget; sounds a lot about Haven's biggest celebrity, the Colorado Kid."

To her astonishment, Peace seemed to know something about this.

"Colorado?" she echoed, "Oh yes, I remember you—I mean, Lucy—mentioned something about a newcomer from Colorado when they were putting me away. You mean he's dead?"

"Yeah, most likely murdered. It's about the biggest mystery this town has because everybody knows he died but no one can remember what happened that day."

"Everybody knows, but no one remembers?" Peace made a small noise that was probably meant as a chuckle, but without much movement. "That definitely sounds like the work of The Enemy."

Audrey had her own theory that she did not express to Peace: what if the Colorado Kid was the one to give the Enemy his Trouble? That would mean the Colorado Kid was Troubled too. So many mysteries!

Audrey stood, "Well, I'm going to get back to work. I'll keep an eye out for the Enemy, and I'll watch out for Nathan."

"Good luck, Audrey," Peace told her.


	12. Chapter 12: Warning Nathan

That evening, after Audrey finished her casework and left for the night, Nathan remained to think over the events of the day.

Audrey had come back from visiting Peace with a strange look on her face, but she did not want to talk about it.

They got a call about Mrs. Perkins' cats, and when he got into his truck, there was a note under the windshield wiper.

"Careful what you think; you never know who might be watching," it warned.

He'd asked Audrey about it, but she would not say anything.

While they were out rounding up the cats, a random stranger walked up.

"Are you Nathan?" she asked.

He stood, "Yes."

She showed him a text from an unknown number. "I'm supposed to remind you that buried secrets are best forgotten," she said, quoting the text. "Do you know what that means?"

Nathan knew better than to glance at Audrey. "Yes," he said, realizing now what she was doing, "I do."

He remembered what Pea—what they had learned about the Enemy, how he could talk to you and make you forget you ever saw him. Nathan blinked with the sudden realization that there were a few hours in his day he could not account for—as if he'd forgotten them.

Nathan shook his head. No one was going to use him as a patsy, not if he could help it!

Audrey sighed; the Enemy was there all right. All around downtown Haven they were dealing with fights over nothing, bizarre crime spikes, disturbing behaviors—as if the Enemy were taunting her, goading her to give him what he wanted. The cases were mounting.

"Good morning, Audrey!"

A box of doughnuts and a coffee landed on her desk. Audrey winced; Duke's insatiable curiosity only complicated things further. She did not want him knowing at all what they were up to.

He, however, was intent on figuring out the mystery before dinnertime.

"Any leads on the Trouble?" he asked casually.

Audrey shook her head. "I have a theory," she replied vaguely.

Duke grabbed a chair and plopped in it. "Let's hear it," he said.

Audrey stalled, "Hear what?"

"Your theory."

"What makes you think I'm going to tell you? It's confidential po—"

"Oh no you don't!" Duke snapped, wagging a finger at her, "You're not pulling the badge on me, Missy! Come on," he pleaded, "You used to tell me at least something of your cases in the past! What was that trunk we dug up in the middle of the night? Is it haunted? Why was it buried? Does it have anything to do with why the town seems to be going on a crime spree?"

"And speaking of," Audrey seized the moment, "I seem to have a few cases here that aren't as random as the rest of them. A certain case of wine from France, a packet of diamonds arriving at the gift shop and disappearing the same day—"

Duke got redder and redder as she read.

Finally, he threw his hands up, "All right, I get the picture!"

"—and is it just me or is the Grey Gull now serving authentic Jamaican rum?" Audrey finished. She smiled at Duke, "That stuff is expensive, wouldn't you say?"

"Now that I can say I did not smuggle!"

Audrey chuckled, "No, I'm guessing it was payment; you never accept any gift below the value of your shipment, do you?"

"Dammit, Audrey!" Duke was desperate now, "Please don't tell anyone about the rum! I have a bunch of fat cats rolling through soon, and I promise to make sure they finish it up!"

"What about—"

"And I'll take my payments in cash from now on," he promised, but at a raised eyebrow from Audrey he conceded, "...mostly."

"All right; just stop asking questions, and these cases will go to the bottom of the stack."

Duke leapt up, "Thank you! I won't ask you any more questions."

Audrey waited till Duke left the room. Stan came in just after him.

"Is the Chief coming in?" he asked.

"No," Audrey answered, "He's out questioning some of last night's victims." She heard a clatter outside. "Oh crap," she muttered, leaping from her desk. "Duke Crocker, don't you dare—"

But her threat fell on an empty hallway. Duke was already gone. Audrey groaned as she grabbed her keys and prepared to go after him, or at least keep Nathan from revealing too much.


	13. Chapter 13: At First Sight, Last Light

SourceURL:file:/localhost/Users/Les2/Documents/TV%20Episodes:Fanfiction/Haven%

Audrey found Nathan in front of the cafe, listening to an old woman and her son arguing about absolutely everything. He seemed unable to get a word in edgewise—and the son looked about ready to punch someone.

"How's it going?" she asked her partner.

Nathan shook his head, "I'm just waiting for things to go one way or the other, because I really don't see an end to this otherwise," he remarked.

Audrey watched the two.

"You baby! You preschooler!" the woman yelled, "Why can't you ever grow up and start thinking about someone besides yourself? You've been a baby every day of your life!"

"Oh, that's rich," the son retorted, "coming from a lady who wears diapers!"

"I raised you!"

"You used me!"

"You never stopped using me!"

"I do all my own chores around the house!"

"You make your bed only when I'm coming, and you take out the trash when it begins to smell!"

"I remember stuff for you all the time!"

"Except orthopedic appointments!"

"Whatever, I totally remembered that!"

"Not last week! I was very late to my appointment and you don't even care! You never have."

"Oh, let me tell you something, grandma: if it weren't for me you'd be dead!"

"If it weren't for me you would have never been born!"

Audrey decided to go for the weaker target. She laid a hand on the grandmother's shoulder.

"Hey, okay," she put on her best "civil servant" voice, "break it up you two."

The older woman blinked and stood silent. When she spoke again, her voice had lost it's hard edge.

"Well, I—what?" she looked around, mildly disoriented. "Why are all these people staring at me?"

"They're staring at both of us, Ma," the young man said, suddenly calming down and taking her arm gently. He noticed Audrey for the first time.

"Can I help you?" he asked her.

"Haven PD," she said brusquely, "What seems to be the problem?"

"Problem?" the man echoed, "There's no problem."

Audrey had distinct memories of the Garelson's house as she repeated the question she had asked them, "You don't remember fighting?"

"What would we have to fight about?" the elderly woman queried. "My Tom is such a sweetheart, he'd never fight with anyone; isn't that right Tommy?"

The man smiled indulgently at his mother, "That's right, Ma. Now when did you say your appointment with the specialist was?"

"One-thirty," she answered.

The man checked his watch. "Oh, golly, we're late! It's that time now! We'd better hurry; excuse us, officer." He nodded respectfully and led his mother out of the crowd, wondering aloud, "Where did the time go?"

Audrey groaned; she knew exactly where the time went. What she wanted to know is where the culprit went.

Nathan was busy getting people to go back to what they had been doing; not a one of them could figure out why they were standing together in the middle of the street.

"At least they're not charging for us again," Audrey muttered bitterly as she picked up a bit of litter from the road.

A voice caught her ear.

"—I'll do it. I'll let you know if anything comes of it."

Duke's voice; but she did not recognize the voice that replied.

"You do that; keep in touch."

Audrey came around the corner. Duke was just shaking hands with a silver-haired man. The old man locked eyes with Audrey, nodded, and sauntered right past her, back toward the front of the building. For some reason the sight of him made her skin crawl. Audrey avoided his eyes as he walked past.

"Duke!" Audrey called as she neared him.

He turned toward her with a startled blink.

"Oh, hey Audrey," he said.

"Who was that?"

"Who was what?"

Audrey rolled her eyes and huffed, "Duke, don't play stupid! I saw you talking with that man!"

"What man?" he persisted.

She pointed a stern finger at him. "Do not mess with me, Duke Crocker! Who was that man you were just talking with ten seconds ago?"

He maintained an expression of total innocence as he raised his hands. "Audrey, I wasn't talking with anyone ten seconds ago!"

Audrey folded her arms; why was Duke denying this? What did he stand to gain from it?

"All right, then," she challenged, "What were you doing one minute ago?"

"One minute?" Duke stammered, "Well, let's see, I was out there watching the two people fight, and I just came back here..." he glanced dizzily around, "...and then you came up to me and started asking questions."

"Duke, I swear I heard you promise to do something for him. What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing!"

"What seems to be the problem?" Nathan asked as he came up behind Audrey.

Audrey turned to him. At last, she would get some answers!

"Nathan, did you see me walk into this alley?"

Nathan nodded, "Of course I did; that's why I'm here. What does Duke have to do with it?"

"I'm getting to that; did you see an older man—like, say mid-sixties—come out of the alley after I went in?"

Nathan, much to Audrey's chagrin, shook his head.

"Nope," he said, "Nobody came out."

"See?" Duke inserted.

Audrey was almost desperate. "Is it possible that someone could have come out without your noticing?"

Nathan was almost laughing at her insistence. "Audrey, I saw you walk back here, I followed you right away; I was watching the alley the whole time. Why do you keep asking about some old guy?"

Audrey threw her hands in the air. She hated being made out to be a liar. "Because I saw him talking to—" she stopped. A shiver ran down her spine.

"Nothing," she said, "I'm going to go now." She walked out of the alley.

Nathan was after her, just as she expected, but she did not want to talk to him.

The Enemy! The old man was Peace's Enemy! That had to be it, because she was the only one who saw him! Now they had a description, though, she could—

Audrey stopped in her tracks.

It was no earthly use, even if she could describe what he looked like. What good was an APB if no one else in town could even remember that he existed?

Nathan thought it was weird when Audrey volunteered to do the field work for the rest of the cases, while he filled out the forms with information he'd gathered that morning, in addition to anything more Audrey discovered and told him about. She had been edgy ever since their conversation in the alleyway, super-paranoid about the people around her—not to mention the unexpected fetish for silver-haired men. He would have expected her to opt for the desk position, protected from whoever was scaring her, but instead she had arranged to handle the fieldwork.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Anybody home?" Duke stuck his head into the office.

Nathan rolled his eyes, "Go away, Duke," he scratched out where he had just entered "Weber grill" under "Place of Residence" for the Johnsons.

"Aw, have a heart!" Duke begged, walking into the room. "Audrey's been avoiding me all day, and I just want to know why!"

Nathan finally laid down his pen and looked up at his friend. "I don't think that is a good idea; she's been avoiding me too, you know."

"Please? Just give me a hint! Jeez, what is it with you people?"

Nathan sighed, "All right, fine! I'll show you! But you have to promise to forget about it, and you cannot tell anyone about this, okay? There's someone around here who will stop at nothing to get his hands on—what we have."

"Hey, I'm a smuggler," Duke admitted, grinning widely, "Keeping secrets is my job."

Nathan stepped past him and into the hallway. "Follow me."

Duke watched with growing excitement as Nathan led him to the far reaches of the building. He pulled down a stepladder from the ceiling, and after climbing up that, Duke saw a second flight of steps leading to a door.

Nathan stopped here. He looked at Duke.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked ominously.

Duke nodded, and Nathan reached for the doorknob. He frowned.

"It won't move," he said, then pulled his hand away when he heard the sound of burning flesh. He had not felt it at all.

Duke gawked at the sight of the burns on Nathan's hand.

"What—" he reached for the knob himself, and jumped back with a cry, "Jeez, that's hot!"

Nathan sighed, "I guess I can't show you after all."

Duke grimaced in pain and disappointment as he followed Nathan back down to the main station floor. "What'd she do, booby-trap it?"

Behind him, a silver-haired man lingered, staring at the door. He shrugged and walked away.


	14. Chapter 14: Infiltration

Audrey did not say anything to Nathan before she went straight up to the attic to visit Peace. She could not help but notice splotches of burning on the walls.

"Restless night?" Audrey asked her.

Peace seemed more nervous than Audrey had ever seen her. "I—um, I guess you could say that," she stammered.

Audrey instantly sensed that there was something Peace was not saying. "What's up?"

"I'm not safe here anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"He found me."

Audrey did not need clarification. "Oh, that reminds me, I saw him the other day. No one else could remember him, just like you said. But now I know who to watch out for."

"Audrey, did you hear what I said? He found me! He knows where I am! He was here at the station!"

Audrey froze. "What? But how?"

"He got Nathan to lead Duke up here last night, and he followed them."

"But the door was still locked, and I have the only key; did they see you?"

"No," Peace pressed her lips, "they, uh, didn't get past the door."

Audrey had a sneaking suspicion, confirmed by the burn patterns around the doorway.

"Peace...what did you do?"

"I heated the doorknob, or at least tried to; honestly, Audrey it was the only way I could think of to keep them away! I didn't know the door was locked."

Audrey felt her gut twisting; the Enemy knew where Peace was. What would he do to get her?

"We can't move you anywhere else, you know," she informed the bound girl.

Before Peace could answer, Nathan's voice hollered up the stairs, "Audrey, are you up there?"

By the time Audrey leaped to her feet, Nathan was already in the doorway, followed by Duke and Dr. Lucassi!

"What are you guys doing here?" Audrey demanded.

"No, it's all right, Audrey," Peace spoke up.

But Audrey knew it was definitely not okay; the three men had that same glassy look in their eyes as Mrs. Perkins and the rest had when under the influence of the Enemy. Where was he, then? Inside the building? How could he possibly control all of them while remaining out of sight?

Duke and Nathan were already standing by Peace's cot.

"Peace," Nathan was saying, "We have a doctor here who knows all about the Troubles, and he says he can help you get your sight and hearing back!"

"Really?" Peace asked excitedly. "How?"

"Well, my dear, let me ask you—" Dr. Lucassi spoke with a smile, "have you ever tried using your eyes since you were buried in the darkness?"

"No," she answered. After a pause, she asked brightly, "Do you mean I might actually be able to see, after all?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Dr. Lucassi replied. "Will you allow me to take your mask off, since your hands are bound?"

Audrey screamed frantically, "Don't listen to them, Peace! It's not true! The Enemy—"

Peace was not listening to her. "Sure," she answered.

Nathan reached over and pushed the mask onto her forehead. Peace flinched and clenched her eyes at the sudden light.

Audrey felt the temperature in the room climb ever so slowly.

"Open your eyes, Peace," Duke continued.

Peace finally did. "OH!"

At that moment, both Duke and Dr. Lucassi began screaming, gasping, and writing. Blood poured from Nathan's orifices. Their skin began to dry and crack.

"Oh no!" Peace was getting frantic, and now the room was going up in flames. Audrey, unaffected physically, was nonetheless in the danger of the flames. "Peace, close your eyes!" she shrieked, lunging for the mask.

"I didn't—I'm sorry!" Peace's voice came in short gasps and Audrey could see tears seeping down from her eyes.

Suddenly the whole cot jerked away from Audrey and out a window at the back of the room she had not even seen before.

"Peace!" Audrey cried, guessing that most likely the Enemy was telekinetic among other things.

Peace was gone, and the further from the building she got, the weaker her effects became. The fire died away leaving a blackened hole in the building, and Duke and the others befmgan slowly to recover.

Nathan was the first to speak. "Wh—what happened?" he looked around at the room that looked like a fireball had exploded inside it. "What are we doing here?"

Audrey glanced at all of them and noticed that the glassy look was gone. The Enemy had no further use for them; he had what he wanted.

"Nathan," Audrey said quietly, as Lucassi and Duke staggered to their feet, "The Enemy has Peace."

"What?" It took him a few moments to realize what she was saying. "Oh... Where did he take her?"

Audrey looked out the window. She could see all the way to Harper's Row from this direction. She glanced at the clump of trees in the midst of the neighborhood. Smoke and flames billowed out of the trees.

"I think I know," she said.


	15. Chapter 15: Final Confrontation

Meanwhile, Peace was still reeling from the images of her friends dying and the building burning. This only brought back the painful memories of the hospital, and the Enemy was not letting her think of anything else. She writhed in pain as the trees around her burst into flame. "No!" she screamed, "Stop! Please!"

"You did it; you're the one responsible. You killed these people!"

"I didn't mean to! I—"

"You're a murderer!"

"No!"

"That's all you've ever done, all your life. You can't even lift a finger without killing someone! Why did you ever think that you could be healed?"

"It's all I've ever wanted!"

"You idiot! People like you can't be healed; there's only one way you can fix the problem: you have to kill yourself. That's the only way to make it all go away."

Peace fell silent. She knew she was crying, but there was nothing she could do.

"Peace?" Someone called out to her! Peace found she could forget about the dead humans if she remembered the one who never succumbed to her effects.

"Audrey!" she called. How had she survived the fire at the station? Peace had seen the building collapsing around her. "I thought you were dead!"

"Peace!" Audrey was urgent, but still a ways off. "You need to stop moving! Lie still!"

Peace obeyed, but the minute she stopped, the Enemy's voice cut through again. "What do you suppose is happening right now?" He placed an image in her head of all the trees aflame around her, and Audrey far away, blocked by a wall of fire. Peace felt dizzy as she saw herself still rolling on the gurney. She was horrified; she felt like she was holding still. Was she really still moving? Waves of heat emanated from her body, feeding the flames.

"All this time you thought you had become Peace," the Enemy taunted her, "But really, you were always Chaos; you'll never be anything else."

Peace saw her movements getting more frantic. "Audrey!" she screamed, "Help!"

"I'm right here," Audrey's voice sounded very close, much closer than the Enemy made her seem. "Peace—"

"No! Don't call me that," Peace snapped, "I was an idiot for believing that I could be Peace. Chaos was the right name for me after all."

Audrey tried to fight her way through the burning trees, shrouded in fire safety gear. She spoke normally, and Peace responded as if they were seated right next to each other in the attic instead of at the heart of an inferno.

"That's not true, Peace," she said, "the Enemy is showing you lies." She bit her lip as she recognized the same identity crisis she had struggled with, between Lucy and Audrey. "You are Peace; everyone around you called you Chaos, but deep down inside, you really have always been Peace. Those killings weren't your fault—"

"Yes they were!" At last, the Enemy stepped into the clearing next to the cot where Peace lay, with Audrey standing next to her. "They were all your fault! They would never have happened if you had just killed yourself when you had the chance!"

"No!" Audrey stood up to the man, who stared at her as if he was trying to encapsulate her mind. "Peace never killed anyone; you did! You're the murderer!"

Audrey hated the way his gaze seemed to bring out the deepest repressed memories in her mind.

"So," he transferred his attack to her, "Lucy Ripley, again, is it? Or—what's the other name? Audrey Parker? But neither of those is right; what's your real name, girl?"

His words cut her to the quick. Audrey staggered, "How—You—You're not supposed to be in my head!" she gasped, "I cannot be touched by you!"

The Enemy smiled, "You seem very touched to me! Not even the great Lucy can withstand me!"

"Audrey," Peace's voice was faint; the fire was draining her energy away. "Audrey, he got those names from Nathan's head. You still have a chance against him, even if I can't fight him anymore."

"Aww," the Enemy turned in mock pity to Peace, "Little firecracker doesn't have any fight left, hmm? You know I am right."

"Yes, you are," Peace admitted numbly.

"Murder is all you do. The longer you live, the more people will die."

"Yes."

Audrey tried to move closer, but a wall of flame suddenly sprang up between them. "Peace!" she yelled.

The girl was not listening. The Enemy had surrounded her and was closing in. Audrey could only stand and listen to the conversation.

"There is only one choice left for you: kill yourself. Unleash your full power and internalize it, so that you can die and Chaos will not plague this town anymore."

"Yes." Chaos felt her ears burning, and she felt the wax melt out of them. Now she could hear the roaring of the flames.

"Peace!" Audrey's voice sounded in her natural ear for the first time. The Enemy's influence was broken temporarily. "Peace, don't do it! You'll end up burning the whole town!"

"It's the only way," Chaos admitted.

"It's not! Don't you know who you are? Think about it! You are the first person to control her own Trouble ever since they began! You can overcome this!"

A grating laugh echoed in her ears, "Don't pay any attention to her! Do it now!" She heard him speaking now to Audrey, "You fool! I have her, and nothing you say can change her mind. Denise is mine!"

Denise...

"No."

Audrey was still trying to figure out how Denise might be connected with this situation, when Peace suddenly sat up and threw off the straitjacket. Audrey saw the Enemy's eyes bulge, and he dropped to his knees as Peace glared at him.

"I am not Chaos, after all," she said, "I am Denise, and YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!" She threw out her arms and focused her dynamogenesis on the Enemy. "DIE!" She shrieked.

It seemed as if all the flames from the trees around them were suddenly absorbed into the Enemy's body. At the same moment the trees extinguished, his body exploded in a white-hot pillar of flame. When it went out, all that was left of him was a pile of ash in a crater.

Audrey stood, watching the girl, now seeing and hearing and moving on her own, until Peace—or Denise—collapsed back onto her cot.

"Audrey!" Nathan's voice calling out to her brought movement back to her limbs. Audrey ignored him and stripped off the helmet and gloves she wore. She fell to her knees beside the cot and grabbed Denise's hand.

Nathan cried in alarm, "No, Audrey, wait!"

Denise looked up at him, smiling faintly.

"It's all right," her voice was barely above a whisper. "I've just won a battle against my mortal enemy by blasting him with every last ounce of my power. I don't even feel the strength to light a candle just now." She looked back at Audrey. "Thank you for reminding me who I was."

Audrey shook her head. "I guess I just had to accept who I was: Lucy Ripley."

Denise smiled, "Not true, Audrey Parker; you accepted your role as a Guardian."

Audrey frowned in confusion, "Guardian?"

Denise nodded, "That's why Lucy was there, Sarah was there, and now you're here. Because the same thing that started the Troubles also provided one person who could bring Haven safely through them: she was not always called Lucy Ripley, but every time the Troubles happened, the Guardian of Tuwiwok in various identities would always be there for the Troubled folk. She might have a different name, different memories but the face and the heart would always be the same."

Audrey's head spun at this revelation. "How do you know so much about this?" she asked.

Denise chuckled, "Lucy asked me the same thing when I told her. Do you know why she was so devoted to helping the Troubled folk? She liked to tell me it was for the sake of the one person she thought she couldn't help like the others, the one they had to bury back in 1983 because her Trouble was too great, the one who had to find her own way to overcome her affliction, the only person who knew the Troubles from how they started to how they would end: me, Denise Bryson."

Audrey jerked like the hand she clasped had sent a joltbof electricity through her hand. This was Denise Bryson? The one with all the answers?

"So what now?" Audrey asked shakily, "Do we bury you again before your powers come back full strength?"

"I don't think you need to fear that."

"Why?"

Audrey looked up as Nathan placed a hand on her shoulder.

"She's dying, Auds," he said quietly.

Audrey looked quickly back at the white face on the pillow. Dying? She couldn't be! Not yet! Audrey needed to know more about how to end the Troubles!

"No..." she choked.

Denise reached up and laid a hand against her cheek.

"Take good care of yourself, Audrey. Haven will need its guardian in the Troubled times to come. You don't need to worry about which name or identity is the right one; what matters is the sort of person you are, the way you live the life you have and the purpose you've been given. Your own character will help you make the right decision, every time. It was good to see a Lucy again, Audrey..." Her hand fell back to her side as the life slipped from her body. "Peace..."

She passed away with the word still on her lips.

At last, Audrey allowed Nathan to wrap a blanket around her shoulders and lead her to the truck.

He brought her to the Grey Gull, and Duke gave them two mugs of cocoa.

Finally, Audrey spoke.

"There was so much I thought I needed to know," she admitted, "but I guess it all came down to one important lesson."

"What's that?" Nathan said, sipping his cocoa.

Audrey sighed, "I don't have to worry about whether or not I'm Audrey or Lucy or who I might be a copy of next. I don't have to worry about taking their places, because my place is here. The other Audrey came from somewhere else, and she had a different reason for being here. I have a purpose for why I am here in Haven, and why I seem to be different from everyone else." She looked earnestly at Nathan.

"I am the Guardian of Tuwiwok, and the things that make me different are the gifts I've been given to help me fulfill my purpose. All I need to worry about is being here for the Troubled folk, being the one person they can trust and depend on." She grasped her partner's hand. "Nathan, I'm sorry for all the times I've blown up at you every time a Trouble gets out of hand. That's really unfair of me to force you to be the person I'm supposed to be. Will you forgive me?"

Nathan looked down at the hand on his. He turned his hand over and grasped hers, stroking his thumb against the back of her hand, enjoying the sense of being normal he felt whenever she touched him. He raised his eyes to hers. "I forgive you," he said. Still holding her hand, he stood up and raised her to her feet, pulling her into an embrace.

"Peace?" he asked her.

Audrey sighed contentedly from within his arms. Denise may have died, but Audrey knew she could let the legacy of Peace live on if she chose.

"Peace," she replied.


End file.
